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Rather than a wedding band, Pamela Anderson had Tommy Lee's name tattooed on her ring finger, the inking marking a commitment made just 96 hours into their wild romance.

It was February 1995 when the nuptials took place, the ultimate Baywatch babe swapping her famous red swimsuit for a white string bikini to marry the Motley Crue rocker on a beach in Cancun, Mexico.

Anderson and Lee very quickly became a 1990s tabloid dream; the Playboy pin-up and the tattooed bad boy, a couple who couldn't keep their hands off each other - and weren't afraid to let people (journalists and photographers included) know about it.

By the end of the year, Anderson was pregnant with their first child and details of the sex tape that would soon become infamous had emerged. The theft of the private tape, filmed during the couple's honeymoon and stolen from their home in Malibu, California, by a disgruntled contractor, left the Baywatch star "devastated".

Despite the couple's efforts to curtail it once they found it was gone, the tape snowballed. Coinciding with the early days of the internet, the footage went from underground bootleg-VHS curiosity to full-blown global headline-maker, the first celebrity sex tape to go viral.

When sex tapes featuring Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian came out in later years, the narrative was the same: the women were laughed at, vilified; the men were deemed sex gods.

Given the fame it brought them, questions were raised about whether the footage had been leaked by the subjects themselves. And the videos became known as the Pamela Anderson sex tape, the Paris Hilton sex tape, the Kim Kardashian sex tape; in Hilton and Kardashian's cases, do you even remember the names of the men involved? (Bizarrely, Rick Salomon, who made the tape with Hilton, later went on to marry Anderson).

Years later, the subject of her own tape inevitably comes up whenever Anderson is interviewed. She has never watched it, never made any money off it herself - despite others reportedly making millions - she tells interviewers, sometimes laughing off their jokes about it. She was an actress and model who had posed naked and spoken openly about her sex life; for years, she was fair game.

The leaking of a tape like this now would be considered revenge porn. Watching some of those clips in 2022 brings about a similar sense of unease evoked by the footage of inappropriate questioning in old Britney Spears interviews, which came to the fore as her conservatorship fight made headlines last year.

Post #MeToo, the world views stories such as this very differently now. And yet, Anderson and Lee's story is being dramatised in the new series Pam & Tommy, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan and billed as "a love story, crime caper and cautionary tale rolled into one".

Anderson has had no involvement in the series. Which begs the question: why is the story being retold for entertainment, almost 30 years later?

"I FELT LIKE WE WERE DOING A REALLY EMPATHETIC PORTRAYAL OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING... AND JUST HOW HEINOUS IT WAS. I THOUGHT IT WAS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE"

Pam & Tommy director Craig Gillespie

James, who is usually associated with "English rose" roles in shows and films such as Downton Abbey and Rebecca, has been transformed beyond recognition to become the all-American (well, Canadian) bombshell. In interviews, she has spoken of the "misogyny" Anderson was faced with and how women have always been held to much higher standards than men.

But after making tabloid headlines herself in 2020, when she was linked to her married The Pursuit Of Love co-star Dominic West, she must know all too well what it is like having your personal life gossiped about by the world.

Director Craig Gillespie, known for films including I, Tonya and Cruella, says the aim was to change the narrative, to shine a spotlight on how Anderson and Lee (to a much lesser extent), were treated at the time and present the story in "a much kinder" way.

"[People] don't realise what victims they were," he tells Sky News. "This was a deeply personal tape. It wasn't [just] a sex tape, it was an hour-and-a half-long, like all of their relationship and some beautiful moments and happened to have [a few] minutes of explicit stuff on there that was in a safe, in a garage, at their home. And then this happens and with no accountability from anyone."

On Anderson not being involved, he says: "I just have to respect however she wants to feel about it... In my heart, I felt like we were doing a really empathetic portrayal of what was happening and the victimisation that had happened with them and just how heinous it was, so I thought it was something that was a real opportunity to change the narrative and the perspective of what happened back then... Looking at it through today's lens was a really unique opportunity."

Gillespie also says Anderson and Lee's story "colliding" with the rise of the internet makes for a "powerful commentary" on society and how the way we consume news and information has changed.

"[It was] like the beginning of this obsession with the internet and how we're so complicit. It's like there's no accountability for how we consume this, you know, almost like the internet is our get out of jail free card. So it was fascinating. And the way that we get to come into this story with preconceived notions...

"We have those judgements as we come into the show, we think we know what we thought we knew from what we saw back then, and we see how sort of incredibly wrong we were, and so quick to judge and to consume these soundbites and formulate an opinion that destroyed people's lives."

The series does address the misogyny. "I'm on that tape, same as you," Stan's Lee tells James's Anderson in one scene. "No, not like me you're not," she replies.

But is it enough to warrant bringing it all back? Like the tape itself, no doubt millions will be watching.

Lee's representatives declined to comment when contacted by Sky News. Anderson's representatives did not respond to requests for comment, although according to sources quoted in US reports she has said she won't be watching and finds the idea of the series "painful".

It will be interesting to see if the "kinder" approach changes her mind - but once again, the story is out there without her consent.

Pam & Tommy launches on 2 February on Disney+ under the Star banner, for more mature content

From playing an ex-con dealing with his daughter's murder in Mystic River, to his portrayal of California's first openly gay elected official in Milk, Sean Penn has had one of the most varied and acclaimed careers in Hollywood.

Those roles have made him a two-time best actor Oscar winner, with three other nominations - for Dead Man Walking, Sweet And Lowdown and I Am Sam - also under his belt, as well as praise for his work behind the camera on films such as Into The Wild.

Penn has also made headlines outside his performances; his marriage to Madonna in 1985 made them one of the most famous couples in the world at the time, and he is also a star who has never been afraid to speak his mind on political issues or use his platform to highlight causes he believes in.

So with the 61-year-old's children, daughter Dylan and son Hopper, following in his footsteps, it is no surprise they would turn to him for advice on how to navigate the industry. His latest project, Flag Day, not only sees Penn both acting and directing for the first time, but also starring alongside his children.

Based on the true story of US journalist Jennifer Vogel's account of her life with her father, the notorious conman, counterfeiter and bank-robber John Vogel, the film follows the pair over 20 years.

Dylan, 30, whose mother is actress Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, House Of Cards), grew up in northern California, away from Hollywood, and never set out to follow her famous parents into acting. She is a successful model and had ambitions of working in the industry but behind the camera. However, Sean says he always envisioned her playing the part of Jennifer Vogel.

Having encouraged her and Hopper, who plays Jennifer's brother Nick Vogel, the star tells Sky News the industry is very different to the one he started out in in the early 1980s, and shares his advice for his children.

"The business I knew is not the business of today," he says. "Especially with the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic, you know, on every level of the business or the creative filmmaking, one wonders what the future is going to be.

"With the injection of streaming, the convenience, capability of seeing films at home theatres and so on - which would not have been my guidance... I'm still a guy who fell in love with the girl whose name is cinema in a movie theatre in the dark with strangers. I think the kinds of stories that interest me are the ones that want to be experienced in that way."

In 2022, there is an "extraordinary amount of content", he says, likening today's culture of streaming to a huge bookstore where people don't cross paths. "It seems to be a less unifying experience for culture and society at any given time than it was when I fell in love with it."

However, he continues: "That said, there is [also] some of the most extraordinary writing, acting, directing. The good things are really kind of miraculously good - though built to addict; this is not taking a couple of hours of our volunteered time to go in and have a cultural experience, this is something that's meant to grab us and hold us as long as it can.

"For actors getting involved in the world today, you're talking about very prestigious things in terms of how the business is perceived, which is to get a part in a series. Well, that part in a series might mean you're not going to do any other parts for six years.

"The actor's career, I would find it very treacherous were I starting today... I think all of the things, from the audition process to the selectivity to the competition, I think it's all on a much higher level than it was. So I worry, given that I have been encouraging to both of my kids... there's a part of me that just hopes that they've got their laser focus on the path through that all that interests them and is of value to them, so that they don't get distracted by all the noise of too big a library."

Flag Day, which also stars Katheryn Winnick, Josh Brolin and Regina King, presents an intimate portrait of a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past - while reconciling the inescapable bond she has with her father.

It might be her first major role, but Dylan's performance will certainly silence any critics who might question why she got the part.

She read Jennifer Vogel's book as a teenager, but never felt ready to take on the role until now. While Vogel clearly had a very complex relationship with her father, Dylan says she was able to see similarities with her own circumstances.

"It's a very complicated relationship between Jennifer and her father, and I think I can relate to that," she says. "But [it's] also very different in the way that my dad and I are very transparent with each other, whereas Jennifer was always striving to have that with her father but wasn't given that in return.

"I think in terms of life experience, I do feel like there's a parallel with me and Jennifer in terms of trying to find your authentic self and kind of identifying yourself as separate from your family. I think that that rang true for me."

As a child of two very famous parents, Dylan says she has always been conscious of forging her own path.

"If people know who my parents are before I walk into room, there's a perception that's preconceived," she says. "So I think I felt a little disabled by that at times and felt insecure before walking into a room or going to a new school or starting a new job.

"Then as I got older, [I realised] that's just a part of who I am. I am separate, I am an individual, but that's always going to be a part of my identity."

Flag Day is out in cinemas and on digital platforms from Friday